38 mins: That, though, is a very fine shot from Higuain, who chests the ball into the air and then volleys from just outside the area. The ball was dipping towards goal until Ederson tipped it over the bar!

36 mins: Though to be fair Chelsea have had more shots so far. City have only had five: the four goals and Aguero’s ridiculous miss. Chelsea have had seven, most of them blasted by Higuain straight into the nearest defender.

34 mins: Azpilicueta’s low cross is cleared just before Alonso gets to it. The fact that both full-backs were in the final 20 yards of the pitch there illustrates Chelsea’s attacking approach to this game, which has of course been woefully unsuccessful.

32 mins: “Do you reckon David Luiz has got deja vu?” writes JR. “What an entertainer. Is it wrong that I am hoping he will begin weeping on the pitch before the half is over?” A little mean, perhaps, but understandable.

GOAL! Manchester City 3-0 Chelsea (Aguero, 19 mins)

This one comes gift-wrapped by the Chelsea defence! The ball is lifted into the area, headed away by David Luiz, incomprehensibly headed right back into the danger area by Barkley and half-volleyed in by Aguero, on the edge of the six-yard box.

GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Chelsea (Aguero, 13 mins)

He misses from two yards, and then scores from 25! Zinchenko breaks down the left, cuts inside, gets a couple of lucky bounces off Chelsea shins and eventually works the ball to Aguero, who curls a delicious shot into the far, top corner!

12 mins: David Luiz’s excellent pass through midfield finds Hazard, who spins and sets off towards goal. He gets into the area but is then forced wide, and when he shoots he’s off balance and hits a weak effort that’s easily stopped.

8 mins: What a miss by Aguero! Incredible! De Bruyne’s pull-back to Bernardo Silva is a bit behind the Portuguese player, who would have had an easy chance of his own had the pass been more accurate, but instead he controls, dances away from goal, keeps running, turns, heads to the byline and sends in a low cross, which finds Aguero just beyond the far post, with an open goal to aim at ... and he misses it!

7 mins: Chelsea have approached the game very ambitiously, trying to attack City, pressing them deep in the home side’s half. Which is fine, except when they then completely fail to close them down in their own penalty area.

GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea (Sterling, 4 mins)

Chelsea fall into a deep sleep as De Bruyne prepares for a free-kick, allowing the Belgian to pass to an untracked Bernardo Silva on the right, and he has time to get into the penalty area, measure his pass, and slide the ball across goal. He was probably aiming for Aguero but it breaks to Sterling at the far post, and he slams it into the net!

2 mins: Hazard gets down the left nicely and slides the ball inside to Higuain, but his shot is blocked and when it is eventually returned to him, another shot is also blocked. “’Shower Slides’, Simon, ‘Shower Slides’?” boggles George Peel. “Is that Metropolitan-speak for flip-flops?” I think they’re quite different to flip-flops, lacking the toe-dividing thong-type device, but I don’t really know what the right name for them is.

A bit of managerial chatter. Firstly here’s Pep Guardiola on approaching this game like a cup final:

So the last part of the season, 11, 12 games to play. It’s important against contenders at home especially to be solid as we have been these last two seasons and try to win. Against Chelsea, Arsenal, United, big teams, it’s always a final. If you don’t play these kind of games feeling like a final it’s more complicated.

And here’s Maurizio Sarri on Chelsea’s win over City in December:

We defended very well. We played a very good match. But I have to say that we were lucky when we scored the first goal because we scored in a very difficult moment of the match for us.

“Bit of a shame not to see Hudson-Odoi in Chelsea’s squad today,” says Adam Kline-Schoder. “I’ve really enjoyed watching him when he’s been given a chance; he’s got great skills, a lot of pace, and is attack-minded, all of which are things that Chelsea fans rightly crave. Kind of a surprise that Sarri doesn’t seem to rate him, as he seems a natural fit. Do you know if he’s injured, or just not fancied today?”

He has apparently been suffering from an unspecified illness this week, which would explain his absence (or handily deliver Sarri an excuse not to use him, depending).

Oleksandr Zinchenko is the unexpected name in the City line-up. He makes his fourth Premier League start of the season, but by some margin the most consequential (the others were against Brighton (h), Bournemouth (h) and Southampton (a)). His last league minutes came at the end of December, but he played both legs of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Burton last month.

So who, then, are Chelsea? Are they the team that triumphed 5-0 against Huddersfield in their last league game, or the one that crashed 4-0 at Bournemouth in the one before that? Are they the side that folded 2-0 at Arsenal in their last top-flight meeting with another member of the established top six, or the one that beat City 2-0 in the one before that?

Can they, in short, provide another twist to the developing title-chase spaghetti-tangle? With another meeting with these opponents to follow in the Carabao Cup final later this month, will they be unusually motivated by a desire to prove their collective mettle and win their individual places for that match, or will that looming Wembley date or some kind of general ennui fatally distract them?

City? Well, we know about them. “It’s a final for us,” says Pep Guardiola. “We have to play in that way.” Today’s match against Chelsea might in fact be, psychologically, more of a final than the one that will actually be a final. This is confusing.

Over the next few hours City could return to the top of the table, Liverpool will once again find themselves with a game in hand, and Chelsea will answer several questions, one way or the other. Welcome!